“Um, why exactly was your brother pretending to be you yesterday?” Adalyn asked when they were almost to the school. She’d had the night to think about what had happened yesterday, and seeing him have a freaking twin distracted her from that.

Angel slightly paused in thought while driving, seeming to debate what to tell her before he spoke. “A Luciano died the night we got stuck in the elevator.”

Her skin went cold. “What?”

“One of the guys who came to see me at the movies was killed the same way Tom was.”

She bit her lip in nervousness. Something in her already knew who it was, but she had to ask.

“W-which one?”

“The one who stood in the middle. He had the grill.”

Holy shit. Whatever was happening between the families wasn’t good, and it definitely wasn’t good for whatever the hell was happening between her and Angel.

Swallowing hard, she tried not to think about it too much. “So, you two switched—”

“Because I needed to talk to the family,” he finished for her, putting the car in park.

Getting out of the car, the two joined the group, only to see Vincent standing beside Lake.

“Uh, why are you here?” Adalyn asked, confused.

Lake stared at her shoes, looking like a puppy that had just done something bad.

“Since Tom’s death, Lucca needed a replacement.” His baby blues looked straight at Angel. “I volunteered because, who best to watch my girl and my sister than me?”

Adalyn blinked repeatedly as Vincent put his arm around Lake and started walking her to class. Poor Lake.

Angel was completely unbothered and looked like he had just been swatted at by a kitten.

“He does realize that it’s very hard to find a guy as pretty as him threatening, right?”

She went to open her mouth, but then decided to close it to keep that information about her brother to herself. It’ll be a fun surprise.

They headed to the classroom; Lake and Vincent waited at the door for them, but when the girls walked in and Angel went to follow behind, her brother looked confused.

“What are you doing?”

“I watch them from inside the classroom,” Angel told him.

Putting his hand on his shoulder, Vincent stopped him. “We’re supposed to wait outside and watch the door.”

Angel stared down at his hand, looking like he was about to punch him. To Adalyn’s surprise, though, he seemed to change tactics.

“See this classroom?” He pointed to the full classroom of over a hundred students who were half asleep. “Any one of them could be a murderer, or worse, try to flirt with your girl. We have to assume everyone’s a threat, so I sit right behind them all the way in the back, where I can keep an eye on everyone.”

The pretty boy’s mind seemed to be blown. “Good call.”

Rolling his eyes when Vincent headed into the classroom with Lake, he mumbled under his breath, “He’s not very smart, is he?”

That, Adalyn agreed with. “Nope. He’s not.”

Taking her seat next to Lake, she was ready to whisper so the boys couldn’t hear, when her friend beat her to the punch.

“He’s mad at me,” Lake came out with it.

Adalyn started to laugh, knowing exactly where this was going.

“He said I was staring at him too much, and that it looked like I had the hots for Angel. I think even Elle got in trouble with Nero, because I heard Vincent on the phone with him, promising that he’d keep an eye on Elle around him, too.”

“Well, what did you say?” Trying to hold her laughter back was almost impossible.

“I asked him if he would have the hots for Pamela Anderson circa Baywatch if she was around him.”

If Adalyn had had water in her mouth, she would have choked.

Lake sank lower in her seat, realizing that maybe comparing Angel’s looks to quite possibly one of the biggest sex symbols ever hadn’t been the best idea. “And that’s why he’s here.”

“I’d say so.” Adalyn chuckled at her friend.

Thank God, I didn’t tell her he can ride a skateboard. There really wouldn’t have been a chance for her to be with Angel if she had.

This class and the next one were spent with Lake sure to divert her eyes from staring too deeply at Angel. By the time lunch came around, Adalyn was proud Lake had made it this far without even one forbidden glance while her boyfriend wasn’t looking. One thing was for sure, she deserved a medal because he had looked especially hot to her today, now that most of his bruising had lightened up.

All of them decided to eat in the cafeteria today since fries were on the menu. Even Angel, who didn’t usually eat on the job, got some.

Taking a seat beside Lake, their table had changed up a bit since Vincent now sat with them.

Maria’s eyes followed Angel, who started to head to his normal table a few feet away. “Angel? Sit with us.” She pointed with her fork to the empty chair beside Adalyn.

They all stopped at the fact that she wanted to include him. And this time, Adalyn literally did choke on her water.

Did Maria Caruso really just invite a Luciano to sit with her?

He seemed to be slightly stunned himself before setting his tray down on the table.

Holy shit, she did.

Looking over at Maria, then at Angel, who now sat beside her, she realized it was a monumental moment that brought inexplicable joy to her heart. To get the mafia princess, who was born without a heart, to like the son of Lucifer meant that, maybe someday, the two families could actually get along.

Even Lake and Elle were smiling at Maria’s generosity. Well, at least until a scary look appeared in Vincent’s eye. He was making it obvious that he wasn’t so thrilled about her invitation.

“Since when have you wanted to be within five feet of a Luciano?” Vincent decided to call her out.

Flipping her hair behind her shoulder, she gave the pretty boy a deadly smile. “Since you started feeling threatened by one.”

Oh.

My.

God.

Shocked faces around the table waited to see what Vincent would do.

He just picked up his food and started eating. There was nothing he could say. It was almost like watching a lion bow to a lioness.

Leave it to Maria to put any man in his place. She was a true inspiration.

The awkwardness at the table slowly faded the longer they sat there, with the girls doing most of the talking. Angel didn’t speak while he lazily sat there, eating beside her, which was fine by her as she reached over and stole a couple of his fries. By about the fifth one, however, he finally did.

Speaking in a low tone, he said, “Steal another fry, sweetness, and you’ll regret it.”

Adalyn smiled sweetly at him while she reached over, stealing one last fry. “You can’t do anything with my brother here.” Popping it into her mouth when he didn’t stop her, she felt her smile get bigger. She stole a couple of extra fries before they started to leave just for good measure.

Ha. That’s right.

With lunch over, they all got up to deposit their trays, but Vincent had taken Lake’s from her, getting rid of it himself.

Angel grabbed Adalyn’s from her, too, making her blush slightly, but when he leaned down to whisper to Lake, her face went red for a different reason.

“Adalyn lied. I do know how to skateboard.”